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EWPAA Structural Plywood and LVL Design Manual - Engineered ...

EWPAA Structural Plywood and LVL Design Manual - Engineered ...

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9 <strong>Structural</strong> <strong>Plywood</strong> Diaphragms & Shearwalls9.1 IntroductionDiaphragms <strong>and</strong> shearwalls are engineered building elements designed to resist lateral loads. They areessentially the same type of structure except shearwalls are located in a vertical or inclined plane <strong>and</strong>diaphragms are situated in a horizontal or near horizontal plane. Lateral loads are loads appliedhorizontally to a building. The most common lateral load types are due to high winds, impact or seismic(earthquake) forces.FIGURE 9.1 shows a diagrammatic representation of a basic building subjected to lateral wind.FIGURE 9.1: Shows location <strong>and</strong> function of the shearwalls <strong>and</strong> diaphragmHalf the wind load normal to the windward <strong>and</strong> leeward walls is transferred to the horizontal roof diaphragmwhich in turn is then transferred to the vertical shearwalls <strong>and</strong> then to the foundations.However, as previously stated diaphragms <strong>and</strong> shearwalls do not necessarily have to be horizontal <strong>and</strong>vertical but can take a range of orientations <strong>and</strong> forms as shown in FIGURE 9.2.91

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